Here’s an incredibly beautiful photo of a yellow-crowned night heron from faithful reader cope:
The bird looks kinda worried. Or maybe I’m just projecting my anxiety onto the bird.
What’s got my feathers ruffled, you (didn’t) ask? Oh, just this:
Carter Page, a former foreign policy advisor to President-elect Donald Trump, recently went to Moscow to meet with “thought leaders,” where he made a speech exclusively broadcast by Russian state media outlet Russia Today in which he announced Trump’s Secretary of State nominee before the Trump transition team officially announced it here in the United States.
Now, according to Russian state media, Page has sent a letter to Senator John McCain (R-AZ) which contains threatening language toward the United States’ national security, as well as the safety of U.S. military forces.
The “threatening” language is as follows:
“Any efforts by members of Congress now to undercut potential new approaches to Russia would risk U.S. national security and innumerable service members [sic] lives.”
The author of the linked piece tried to confirm receipt of the letter, excerpts of which were published by Russian propaganda outlet Sputnik. But thus far, McCain’s office hasn’t responded because of the holiday break.
When asked by reporters about proposed Obama administration sanctions on Russia for the election hacking, Trump spewed forth this word salad:
“I think we ought to get on with our lives. I think that computers have complicated lives very greatly. The whole age of the computer has made it where nobody knows exactly what’s going on. We have speed, we have a lot of other things, but I’m not sure we have the kind of security we need.”
Sounds like little Barron needs to explain The Cyber to him again. When the reporter followed up with a question about Lindsey Graham’s statement, that the sanctions should target Putin personally, here’s what the shitgibbon said:
“I don’t know what he’s doing,” Trump said of Graham. “I haven’t spoken to him. As you know, he ran against me.”
It’s all about him, you see. The hacking benefited Trump, so it’s no big deal, just as his massive and unprecedented conflicts of interest are no big deal. Graham ran against Trump, so he’s irrelevant.
The Russians — and indeed every tinpot authoritarian regime on the planet — have figured out how to “hack” Trump: just recognize that he has an advanced case of narcissistic personality disorder and manipulate him accordingly. What could possibly go wrong?
Anyhoo, don’t focus on the doom and gloom; look at the pretty bird instead. Open thread!
Gin & Tonic
I’ll bet real cash money that Carter Page is as “former” an adviser as Corey Lewandowski or Paul Fucking Manafort.
Botsplainer
A little OT, but remember the stem cell wars of the early double naughts? They’re back….
Speaking just for me, the world would have been a better place had Joseph stoned Mary for being a whore, ensuring that Jesus was never born
bystander
If you and Kay were a singing group, you could call yourselves the Dreamgirls of Doom. It’s painful reading people shaping into words all the anxiety that’s floating freely around my head.
sukabi
Sounds like Mr. Page is a fully employed agent of the Russian state…
Shell
That was my try first thought too! Even the wildlife is worried about the age of Trump.
Elizabelle
Wearing me out watching folks game out what Trump will do. Looking at the pretty bird is good advice.
I can be too optimistic, but maybe too many Americans need to get a good, hard look at what party over country brought them. And many need to question their assumptions. It is possible that a disaster could be more helpful than years of incremental progress. Of course, disasters can go other ways, too.
We did not buy in to this situation, but it is here, and we have to survive it.
All the “what ifs” become exhausting. As baud mentioned this morning, this could be a siege, not a blitzkrieg. Conserve our strength and options.
Elizabelle
@bystander: And if we are all anxious and acting out of fear, “they” have won.
Putting up this link again. From that great scholarly journal, Rolling Stone. Why We’re Living in the Age of Fear.
Ella in New Mexico
When, in modern or other history, have actions on the part of an American citizen like this one NOT been considered A. a threat to national security and/or B. potentially treasonous? I mean, seriously, when do we start investigating the Trump team for espionage?
Fuck the holiday season. Congress and the Democrats in particular need to get back to work and start hitting airwaves screaming about this Russia thing with everything they got.
Especially given Dumhole’s comments to “just ignore everything and get back to our normal lives”THIS issues might be the only possible thing that could rally the two parties together and get his ass booted out of office ASAP.
Spanky
Is Mr. Page stateside? Because I’m thinking that he might find that he’s attracted the interest of large men in dark suits.
ETA: Dearest Ella, this is not the first time you’ve voiced my exact thoughts a step (or 3) ahead of me.
schrodingers_cat
@Elizabelle: Exactly! We can drive ourselves crazy by trying to respond to the various doomsday scenarios in our heads.
tobie
@Ella in New Mexico: I agree. And it’s a great sound bite to say, “The Russian people knew about Trump’s Secretary of State pick before YOU did.” The letter to McCain, if true, is icing on the cake.
Bobby D
I’m thinking Mr. Page needs a visit from my friends Guido and Vinnie, and their cousin Louis Villeslugger.
randy khan
I think Graham is right – the U.S. should (among other things) target Putin’s personal interests. If some of his foreign bank accounts – and you know he has them – suddenly emptied, it would catch his attention and, even better, there would be nothing he could say about it. He’d just have to live with it.
hovercraft
@Gin & Tonic:
Hotel California has nothing on this vortex of toadies. Once they check in they are there for life, until they are forcibly expelled. Between the NDA’s and the firings for show, no one seems to ever really leave bullshit tower once they have entered. These people barely even make a show of no longer being shills for their naked emperor.
Shalimar
So the Trump team will be communicating in a traditional way with the media, as long as it is Russian propaganda networks.
joel hanes
Night herons always look worried in the daylight.
They sulk around, hunched, listless, awaiting the lovely darkness when they can fly and stalk frogs without being observed.
West of the Cascades
My new year’s hope: that at least three Republican Senators consistently see their own political futures best linked to opposing both Trump and the more extreme parts of the Republican agenda. Looking at Collins, Flake (up for reelection in 2018 in trending-more-blue Arizona with lots of old constituents), Graham, Rubio, maybe Heller (up for reelection in 2018 in increasingly-blue Nevada).
But we’re probably doomed.
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: I think it’s clear as day what Trump is going to do. The question is, what’s the best way to oppose him?
kindness
At what point will Trump inform us that Russia Today will be the only media outlet he talks to.
Spanky
@West of the Cascades: Toomey too, although he may not feel terribly pressured, just coming off re-election.
Pennsylvanians need to make him feel the pressure. His campaign was no cakewalk.
lollipopguild
It looks like we need to start the Impeachment process on Preznut Trump.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: Not the smartest thing to do to threaten a senior Senator who is notoriously cranky and short tempered, especially in regards to being treated according to how he believes a Senator should be treated. And who ha subpoena power. This is a good way to have your entire professional life dragged through a Senate investigatory committee.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: I, for one, will be happy to revise my opinion of Lindsey Graham and be ready to laud him as a hero if he proceeds to do just that – with the entire Trump team, not excluding the Chief Cheeto-head himself.
Emerald
@Ella in New Mexico:
I’m really surprised they haven’t kept this kind of activity under the rug until after the inauguration. I mean, yeah, sure looks like actual treason to me.
Well, not that our congress, media, or FBI would do anything about it so yeah, I guess they know what they’re doing. Get the threats distributed early so all those folks will be right in line for Jan 20th.
I wonder when Russia Today will become one of the major networks here?
hovercraft
@Botsplainer:
I’m sure that will go over well, what with the Alzheimer’s explosion we are in the midst of. Too many of us have a personal experience with this terrible disease, hearing that a promising avenue of possible relief will not go over well with those voters making over 50 K, who voted for this asshole.
Elie
What a nightmare!
Let me add that to me the most important mental trait that makes Trump extremely dangerous is not his narcissism. The more I see the more I recognize the emotional and relationship instability of a bi-polar personality. Narcissisism can be part of that disorder but the part that does the damage is the bipolar necessity to subvert, manipulate and lie as well as to blame others for your woes. Rage and acting on rage is also a central feature. The gothic term “evil” can be considered. Most already know this but we are in for more than a bumpy ride. I am personally quite alarmed and expect it to get much worse. What to do about it is another matter. He is truly unfit for office but the system is set up to protect the office also gives him cover for a while. He has yes men only in his immediate circle though Mattie might not be as loyal to protecting the situation. Sooner or later all will see what many of us already know but getting concerted effort around doing something will be deeply complicated by the system we have put in place to protect the office and its role as the head of our government. This will test us beyond anything in our history
lollipopguild
@Adam L Silverman: Not to mention that if any of us sent a threatening letter to a United States Senator that we would get a visit from the FBI?
Elie
What a nightmare!
Let me add that to me the most important mental trait that makes Trump extremely dangerous is not his narcissism. The more I see the more I recognize the emotional and relationship instability of a bi-polar personality. Narcissisism can be part of that disorder but the part that does the damage is the bipolar necessity to subvert, manipulate and lie as well as to blame others for your woes. Rage and acting on rage is also a central feature. The gothic term “evil” can be considered. Most already know this but we are in for more than a bumpy ride. I am personally quite alarmed and expect it to get much worse. What to do about it is another matter. He is truly unfit for office but the system is set up to protect the office also gives him cover for a while. He has yes men only in his immediate circle though Mattis might not be as loyal to protecting the situation. Sooner or later all will see what many of us already know but getting concerted effort around doing something will be deeply complicated by the system we have put in place to protect the office and its role as the head of our government. This will test us beyond anything in our history
Yarrow
@Ella in New Mexico:
Yes. Exactly.
Another tactic I don’t see mentioned often enough is to go with the “Russia is blackmailing the Republicans” framing. We know they hacked the Democrats and released a bunch of stuff. We know they hacked the Republicans (Lindsey Graham for one) and released only a tiny bit. How many Republicans were hacked? We don’t know! Maybe all of them! Maybe they’re being blackmailed! Wouldn’t it be good to find out?
MJS
@Adam L Silverman: You know far more about this stuff than I do, and I’m not sure if you’re referring to McCain or Graham, but what makes you think they will ever put country before the Republican party or, if they attempt to, that they’ll get a sufficient number of Republicans to do the same?
James Powell
@Spanky:
All winning campaigns are a cakewalk in retrospect.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: I was actually speaking of Senator McCain who is the senator supposedly named by Page – provided this Sputnik article turns out to be accurate.
Yarrow
@Betty Cracker:
Agreed. He’s not that hard to predict. He’ll do whatever will enrich himself and his family and consolidate power for himself and them. The only wildcard I see is that his need to be respected and loved will get in the way. If feels he has been disrespected he may pop off and do something stupid and unpredictable. THAT he may do something like that seems evident. WHAT the thing or things are that he will do is not as easy to predict.
Emerald
@Yarrow:
Problem: Who does the finding out when our FBI has been described as “Trumplandia?”
I read that Comey is going to do a press conference on Jan 21st. Not until the 21st. Uh huh.
Adam L Silverman
@lollipopguild: Capitol Police have jurisdiction when members of Congress or the professional and/or political staff are threatened.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Oops. Of course! Still holds – if McCain turns round and bites these pretenders in the ass as they so richly deserve, I’m willing to stand by everything I said.
Adam L Silverman
@MJS: I was referring to Senator McCain as he was the senator mentioned in the report. The thing you have to understand with Senator McCain, as well as Senator Graham, is their military service. That influence on their thinking and politics has continually cut against the dictates of the GOP leader in the Senate and the demands of the GOP caucus in the Senate. Is it an ironclad guarantee they’ll do the right thing? No. Those things don’t exist.
Yarrow
@Emerald: Well, yeah. The FBI is kind of useless here. I think the CIA is probably more helpful. However, none of that stops all of us from asking the questions when we’re with friends and family.
The Democrats should be asking the same question. Are Republicans being blackmailed? What do the Russians have on Republicans? Force Republicans to respond. “No! I’m not being blackmailed!” Make them defensive. Get the idea of Republicans being blackmailed by the Russians in the mix. Right now I barely see anyone talking about it. I think it’s a missed opportunity.
hovercraft
@Ella in New Mexico:
Don’t be silly, if Mr. Page was a democrat then his actions would be a sign of disloyalty. Trying to “reset” relations with Russia, signing a new START Treaty, those are signs of weakness, encouraging them to hack our opponent, disregarding ‘proof’ that they hacked our elections, appointing people with very close ties to Putin and his inner circle, these are signs of superior diplomatic skills and strength. What better way to show Putin that a new era has begun, giving him the keys to the castle will bring him over to our side. All those people who think that Putin has an agenda that does not coincide with ours, just don’t understand the amazing charm and savvy that our PEOTUS possesses, he will have Putin eating out of his hand. Just wait and see, before you know it, Iran will have given up it’s support for ISIS, they will give up their quest for nuclear weapons, everyone in the Middle East will love us.
Starfish
There is something going on in New York with Jehovah’s Witnesses and Jared Kushner.
James Powell
I can’t believe anyone would expect McCain and Graham to do anything honorable. These are the two assholes who fabricated and carried out the witch hunt against Susan Rice. They are the creators and driving force behind the Great Big Fat Benghazi Bullshit that led to the congressional investigations that led to the email server that was the biggest crisis for our nation since World War II. I do not have enough hatred in me to cover all the people who deserve it, but I will alway save a dose for each of those two.
Rand Careaga
Rather telling, don’t you think? Graham, by the time he dropped out, wasn’t particularly running against Trump, and nor were any of the other clowns in the car until it was too late. Hell, if they’d trained their fire on Trump early on rather than smirking as he took down their other rivals one after another, we might not be in this mess (to be sure, we might very well be in some other mess). But of course, in the short-fingered vulgarian’s Donald-centered cosmology, all of these men and women (woman?) were attempting to stand athwart his predestined victory.
I tell ya, this guy’s going to be worse than we think in office, and we already think he’s going to be very, very bad.
Chris
@Yarrow:
Pretty much. There are any number of things that Republicans might do to which I’d have to say I’m not surprised. Knowing which of these they will do isn’t as easy.
Yarrow
@Miss Bianca: McCain just won reelection and it’s probably his last election given his age. He may be thinking about his legacy at this point. What better way to leave office than having led the charge against the Russians taking over our government? I think there’s an opportunity for him there. Perhaps some phone calls to his office asking him to “be a hero” and “save America from Russian interference” would be helpful.
hovercraft
@Adam L Silverman:
Didn’t the Bush administration prove that subpoenas for the executive branch are invalid? Or am I misremembering, I thought that Rove et al didn’t not comply?
lollipopguild
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks. That’s good to know in case I feel the need to send a strongly worded letter.
WJS
@Adam L Silverman: I wish we knew more about Shareblue as a media outlet. In that story, they link to themselves when attributing what was said–that’s a concern for me. They link back to something that happened in early December.
I’m not going to call this “fake news” but I’ll be damned if I’m going to take this as gospel without actually seeing what McCain’s staff actually does here. And even then–how is anyone supposed to know what’s real anymore? And what chance do we have of seeing the FBI actively involved in any kind of legitimate investigation anymore? They picked the president they wanted, and who’s going to risk their career pursuing corruption charges when the people at the top are not going to support them?
Adam L Silverman
@hovercraft: They complied on some, claimed executive privilege on others. But Carter Page is currently a private citizen. He’s not been announced for an Executive Office of the President position, nor for a position elsewhere in the government. There’s nothing to claim privilege on.
Chris
@hovercraft:
I cracked up at this part.
Bobby D
@West of the Cascades: Add Ben Sasse to that list. I’d also start looking into targeting any GOP members that are vets for flipping parties or at least becoming independent and not caucusing with the Tumpkins, most of the vets of a certain age were raised to view Russia as THE existential enemy. Miss Lindsey, lest we forget, is a retired Air Force O-6 (full bird Col), no surprise to me that he and McCain are going to have to lead opposition to Pootie among the American right.
MJS
@Adam L Silverman: Not looking for an ironclad guarantee, just some evidence, especially as it relates to McCain, that he will ever participate in damaging a Republican president. His daughter and family were smeared by GWB’s campaign, and he did nothing about it. Even with his military background, he never sufficiently excoriated Bush’s debacle in Iraq, instead claiming that Obama lost Iraq. He’s a Republican, through and through, which means he lacks the backbone necessary to take on Trump (which he exhibited in the campaign.)
Mnemosyne
@Elie:
I don’t think it’s bipolar disorder. I think it’s ADHD — the two things are commonly mistaken for each other, especially in adults. His issues go all the way back to his childhood (which is why he ended up in military school), which is another indication that it’s untreated ADHD.
And, yes, untreated ADHD + NPD is a really nasty combination.
delk
Gav seems to be doing well. Except for his bruised tummy and odd shaved patches he looks like his old self. Took all his meds like a champ–the two of us are both on the same 8am-8pm dosing schedule.
The vet doesn’t want anything around his neck so he is lounging around without his collar experimenting with the naturist lifestyle.
Once again, thanks for all the well wishes.
Elizabelle
@delk: Great news, delk. We needed some sunshine.
Please keep us apprised, and new photos of Gav are always welcome.
Did you ever figure out where he might have gotten into the rat poison? How frightening.
Bobby D
@Emerald: If I were that asshole Comey, I’d be hiding under the bed. I sure as hell wouldn’t show my face in public for fear of getting shot. I’d also be looking over my shoulder and under my car before getting in it, those CIA boys know how to take care of a problem like a rogue, traitor FBI head.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Adam, do you know how things work in terms of who has an “official” job in the White House and who is an informal adviser, along with who gets security clearances?
You’re saying Carter Page doesn’t have a job with the Trump administration and hasn’t been mentioned for one. Doesn’t mean he can’t be an unofficial adviser and unofficially given all sorts of info. Same with Trump’s kids. There was discussion of them getting clearances, then that was said to be not happening, then it was mentioned again. Ivanka is moving to D.C. and may have an East Wing office. They are sitting in on meetings.
Who can/will stop Trump or his minions passing along confidential information to any of these people or other informal advisers? What checks are in place? Is there some punishment for it? Seems like a very uncontrolled system from what I’ve seen so far. How does it work? How’s it supposed to work?
Yarrow
@delk: Yay! That’s excellent news. That video was so cute. I hope his tail is working overtime now.
Elie
@Mnemosyne:
Well obviously we are both speculating. ADHD is frequently seen w bipolar and narcissistic personality features. The emotional instability is the tell for bipolar features. Whatever. He is unfit and our system is gonna be challenged to deal w the situation
mai naem mobile
@delk: i don’t know about dogs but in humans pooping is important with liver issues. I think that’s how you get rid of ammonia. Glad he appears to be doing better.
Mnemosyne
Anyway, I have to get up and start getting ready to go to the zoo with my BFF and her two daughters. We’ll probably spend at least an hour watching the river otters playing on their slide.
Elmo
@delk: Thanks so much for the update! I love hearing that what we thought was dire news may not have been the doom we were all afraid of, and it’s great to hear that he’s happy and comfortable at home. YAY!
Yutsano
@Adam L Silverman: I’m looking at this two ways:
A) The letter is real.
In this case, Page has essentially committed high treason and either can never return to the US without being indicted (assuming the Sessions DOJ will do said indictment, no guarantee there) or comes back and has a nice long talk with some G-men. The government doesn’t transition until January 20th, and while most transition work is still going on the government still has to function. Grandpa Walnuts will still flip his shit regardless. And he really is the last person you want to be on the bad side of.
B) The letter is fake.
This is Putin directly threatening the US government through propaganda. It’s him saying that he COULD wreck US interests directly, in which case there may need to be a massive investigation (which I don’t trust Congress to do) into who is working for whom where. It’s a subtle declaration of war. And again Grandpa Walnuts still loses his shit.
eclare
@delk: So happy to hear that! Thank you for the updates!
Elie
@Mnemosyne:
Most wonderful and healthy thing to do. Have great fun. Wish I could come along. My heart needs it
Mnemosyne
@Elie:
There are several of us here that have ADHD (I wasn’t diagnosed until I was an adult) and a LOT of what Trump does is very, very familiar to us. Emotional instability is very common with ADHD, the only difference is that it usually has an actual trigger of some kind (like, say, a Twitter fight) rather than being a function of changing brain chemistry.
rikyrah
No, President Obama does not practice respectability politics
So many people use the phrase despite not knowing its meaning
By Brando Simeo Starkey
Do me a favor — lower your head in shame if you’ve ever accused someone of committing a transgression despite not being able to correctly define what said transgression entails. Well, if you’ve ever criticized President Barack Obama for practicing respectability politics, your chin had better be slouched against your chest.
I hear a lot about Obama supposedly practicing respectability politics. Most recently, Ta-Nehisi Coates claimed as such in his Atlantic cover story piece, My President Was Black. Coates lauded the president for a speech he delivered at Howard University, partly because it omitted “his usual riff on respectability politics.” Others have committed this sin, such as CNN journalist Nia-Malika Henderson. Writing for The Washington Post in 2014, she oddly credited Obama for practicing respectability politics less frequently than he had in the past despite him never practicing it in the first place. Such high-profile accusations have led the masses to echo these sentiments. Search the phrase on Twitter, and see various tweets of people maligning Obama for championing respectability politics:
None of these people know what the phrase respectability politics means. I wrote a long-form piece on respectability politics in which I define it.
The problem with indicting Obama for practicing respectability politics is that he never tells black people to reform their behavior to elicit better appraisals from white people. Obama promotes racial uplift, the idea that black people should pursue personal and collective improvement in their own self-interest.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: Clearances are not provided unless someone has a position, as in is being paid, that requires the clearance. This will dictate the level of the clearance. The President has the power to declassify anything at any time. So should a President decide to tell an informal advisor without a clearance something classified, there is little that can be done. Though usually there is paperwork involved even for the President when something is declassified.
A caveat here: when I explain this stuff it is based on what the rules and regulations are and what has been done up until now. I have no special inside information into the Trump transition.
Betty Cracker
@WJS: Shareblue isn’t a top-tier media outlet (whatever that means anymore), but I rate them about as reliable as HuffPo or Raw Story, judging from the people who run the joint. It ain’t the WaPo, but it ain’t a fake news flop house in the Balkans either. The NYT also covered Page’s recent visit to Moscow, and the Russian propaganda outlets cited actually did publish excerpts of what they said was Page’s letter. We’ll have to see if McCain’s office confirms receipt.
Spanky
@Yutsano: No, it is not treason, high or not. That particular crime is described in the constitution. Having said that, he certainly deserves a little visit. I don’t think an AJ would need to use her/his imagination to come up with some serious charges.
Mnemosyne
@Elie:
It’s not quite the same as being there, but here’s a long video from last year featuring the then-young river otter pups. Adorable!
hovercraft
@West of the Cascades:
When push came to shove, each and everyone of these people sided with their party. Opposing the PEOTUS when no one thought he would win is not that brave when you now that either you can easily survive, Collins, or did survive, Graham, the backlash from the crazies. All of them have gone along with every destructive Turtle plan to stop the government from functioning, they all went along with the plan to keep Scalia’s seat vacant. They may have paid lip service to giving Garland a hearing, but they did nothing to cross over and join the democrats in following every historical precedent. They may have opposed their nominee before he actually won, but now that he has, and his foot soldiers are more emboldened than ever, I doubt they will be able to with stand the pressure that rains down on them if they defy him. He’s a vengeful lump of grievances, that has no tolerance for dissent.
I hope they surprise me, but I hold out very little hope.
hovercraft
@delk:
Great news!
Elie
@Mnemosyne:
Well not to get too personal but my husband has the trifecta (bipolar, ADHD and narcissistic personality). Where one begins and the other ends is hard to tell but management has been difficult because he knows better than his doc and changes his treatment without communicating leading to crises that might have been avoided. It is breaking my heart and our marriage. So whatever you say. Ok. The bottom line is he is unfit for office and both the system and his minions will make it devilishly difficult to manage much less get free
Ella in New Mexico
@James Powell:
If you make it about them, about their reputations, about something they pride themselves on being the experts on, it’ll happen.
Elie
@rikyrah:
Thank You!
rikyrah
The foolish farce surrounding ‘food-stamp fraud’
12/29/16 08:46 AM
By Steve Benen
It’s widely assumed that congressional Republicans, working with a Republican White House, will go after social-insurance programs with a vengeance next year, and the most economically vulnerable Americans are likely to face new hardships. GOP allies know that the public might be more tolerant of drastic cuts if the public distrusts the public programs themselves.
And with that in mind, Fox News ran a curious report this week.
Food stamp fraud is at an all-time high, with cases this year including a state lawmaker and even a millionaire.
According to the USDA, $70 million of taxpayer money was wasted in 2016 due to food stamp fraud.
On Twitter, Fox News asked, “Food stamp fraud at all-time high: Is it time to end the program?”
Taking the report at face value, the question is bizarre. The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, generally known as food stamps, is a nearly $71 billion program. If $70 million helps provide food for people who shouldn’t receive assistance, that’s 0.09% of the overall budget. In other words, according to Fox’s report, 99.91% of the money Washington spends on food stamps is spent appropriately. That’s an amazingly successful program.
What’s more, if we continue to take Fox’s report at face value, since when do we “end” public programs in reaction to tiny amounts of fraud? If someone found 0.09% of misspent money in the Pentagon budget, wouldn’t it be silly to say we should scrap the Defense Department?
Ella in New Mexico
@Spanky: I’d say that in fact, he, and many others in Trumpland, either have walked or are currently walking awfully close to the legal definition of treason:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2381
Roger Moore
@mai naem mobile:
Urine is far more important for getting rid of ammonia and other nitrogen compounds; that’s what the urea is doing in urine. The liver is very important for all kinds of detoxification, though; it’s where most drugs are metabolized, for instance. Fortunately, the liver has pretty remarkable regenerative powers; for example, it’s possible to donate one lobe of your liver for a transplant without ill effects because the remaining two lobes will grow back into the missing space.
rikyrah
Lips pursed
Trump advisor: The wealthy can’t be corrupt because they’re wealthy
12/29/16 12:20 PM—Updated 12/29/16 12:40 PM
By Steve Benen
CNBC’s Larry Kudlow is extremely impressed with Donald Trump’s work of late, writing in a new National Review piece the president-elect’s transition “continues to go smoothly. Better than smoothly. Confidently. More than confidently. Transcendently.”
There was no indication that he was kidding.
Kudlow, an advisor to Trump’s team for months, is reportedly the top candidate to lead the next White House Council of Economic Advisers, despite the fact that Kudlow is not an economist and his track record on economic issues is hard to defend. Nevertheless, the CNBC host appears interested in joining the administration, and he knows that with Trump, flattery can be very effective.
But what was especially striking in Kudlow’s National Review piece was the assertion that the wealthy are incapable of corruption because they’re wealthy. “Why shouldn’t the president surround himself with successful people?” he wrote, referring to the rich conservatives Trump has added to his incoming team. “Wealthy folks have no need to steal or engage in corruption.”
This is not a good argument.
In fact, as New York’s Jon Chait explained, disproving the claim doesn’t take much effort.
AMinNC
@Yarrow: I have been wondering about this for awhile now. When the hacking story came out in October, and then again when intelligence services determined it was done specifically to help Trump, I found it strange that, at first, we heard about the hacks of Republicans/RNC in addition to hacks of Dems, but then, nothing – only mentions of the DNC hacks. Even President Obama, when giving interviews and press conference about the Russian hacking stopped mentioning the Republican side of the hacking. Does anyone know if that part of it turned out not to be true (Priebus denied RNC hack, for example), and so was dropped? Or if it was true, would the powers that be stop talking about it because they are conducting further investigations to try to determine what was taken that could be compromising to Republican officeholders/candidates, and thus fodder for foreign blackmail? Because, absent these two possibilities, it seems to me that it is political malpractice on the part of every Democrat out there not to be asking (EVERY time they are in front of a camera) these exact questions about Russian leverage over Republicans.
Felonius Monk
@rikyrah:
Of course, it is not. How does he think many of those wealthy individuals got wealthy in the first place.
rikyrah
Trump is moving forward with plans to privatize veterans’ care
12/29/16 11:10 AM—Updated 12/29/16 11:19 AM
By Steve Benen
When Mitt Romney briefly flirted with the idea of introducing “some private sector competition” into veterans’ care, the nation’s leading veterans’ organizations pounced, making their displeasure clear. Romney quickly retreated and never brought it up again.
This year, however, Donald Trump didn’t just hint at possible privatization; he explicitly endorsed the idea, more than once. Over the summer, the Republican unveiled a “10-point plan” on VA reforms, which included such bold and visionary ideas as removing VA employees who haven’t done a good job.
Now, however, Candidate Trump is President-elect Trump, and as the New York Times reported, the Republican’s plans haven’t changed at all.
The aides offered about as many details as Trump himself did during the campaign – which is to say, no meaningful details at all.
“So, the idea is to come up with a solution that solves the problem,” a senior official on Trump’s transition team told reporters. “And it’s not the easiest thing in the world because you’ve got all these little kingdoms out there, which is hard.”
Spanky
@Ella in New Mexico: Bad as relations are at this point, Russia is not defined as an enemy.
manyakitty
@Bobby D: Save a big bag of bile for that miserable Tom Cotton.
Chris
@Bobby D:
You’re dreaming. No one at the CIA is crazy enough to try and cap an FBI director, no matter the circumstances. Forget the basic professional and ethical considerations and the predictable “what are you NUTS?” response to anyone who suggested it. They’d be taking on the FBI on its own turf (American soil) where it has every advantage. They’d be declaring war on an organization that’s always had better PR and stronger political connections than theirs. They’d be seen as declaring war on Donald Trump and the entire Republican Party, which hold all the levers of power in Washington and are pissed off, out for blood, and looking to smash any real or perceived challenge to their “mandate” (and already believe the CIA is plotting against them). And let’s not even talk about the level of public backlash that would come from “America’s Number One Cop Murdered By CIA!” headlines. The agency would be abolished and a ton of its members in jail by the end of the year.
manyakitty
@delk: Yay! Welcome good news!
Spanky
@rikyrah: If I were an enterprising reporter, I’d poke around a bit to see what not-corruption Kudlow himself has been up to.
Roger Moore
@Elie:
This. The APA says it’s unethical to make a diagnosis without personally examining a patient, and I think it’s probably wise for us amateurs to follow the same general rule. Regardless, anyone with an attention span greater than a gnat can see he’s temperamentally unfit for office, no matter what a clinician might diagnose him with.
Patricia Kayden
I feel like I’m living in a bizarro world where it’s perfectly ok for a foreign country to interfere with our elections and get away with it. The media should be in a tizzy about this. There is no other news.
Roger Moore
@Ella in New Mexico:
The legal question is whether Russia is our enemy. We haven’t declared war against them, though one might claim that the sanctions we’ve levied against them for invading Ukraine constitute some kind of declaration of enmity.
Spanky
Good grief! Is Fahrenthold the only investigative reporter the Post has?
Elie
@efgoldman:
I agree w you 100 per cent. I’ll believe it when we see it along w ANY bonafide truly patriotic or moral leadership from them. They have self selected to be exactly how they are like pigs bred for leanness It will take more than one generation to change this political gene pool. Spineless Democrats also
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah: Ryan and his ilk are evil but I see no effective opposition against his starve-the-poor for their own benefit mantra. He’ll do as he pleases. Our only hope is that many on the Right get hurt by his churlishness.
Mnemosyne
@Elie:
My nephew fortunately only has two of the three — ADHD and bipolar disorder. But his mom has what I’m pretty sure is Borderline Personality Disorder, plus what may be low-grade bipolar. (His father is also ADHD and bipolar but wasn’t diagnosed until he’d been in and out of prison for about 20 years of his adult life.) Believe me, I really empathize with what you’re dealing with and send you many (((hugs))) if you want them.
tpherald
There is a definite bright side to the Trumpocalypse: American voters are very unlikely to vote for another “America’s CEO” with no governing experience for a while. Well, 4 years at least, I’m sure.
Chris
@rikyrah:
I want to see Mafia kingpins using this defense at their trial. “What? Me, commit crimes? But I’m rich! What need do I have to commit crimes?”
EBT
@Roger Moore: The wonderful part of being the public at large is that we require neither legal proceedings nor medical license to make the correct judgement of people. deadbeat donnie is obviously woefully unfit for office and may indeed be more mentally unwell than me which is pretty impressive.
Elie
@Roger Moore:
Yep. Sigh
hovercraft
@rikyrah:
So all of the white collar criminals were doing what exactly?
Bernie Madoff was wealthy, but he was also greedy, from what I can tell most of the big banks engaged in “theft”, but fortunately for them, they had the foresight to first hire lobbyists to rewrite the laws, so that they could steal the life savings of millions legally. In my book there is nothing more corrupt than the real estate business where a “billionaire”, can go nearly twenty years without paying taxes because the industry has lobbied legislatures to let them pay nothing on the millions they are making.
One buffoon talking nonsense to puff up another buffoon, should be smacked down for saying something so stupid, or at the very least asked about, Conrad Black, Martha Stewart, Bernie Madoff, and if you can find a more corrupt person than Maurice Raymond “Hank” Greenberg, former chairman and CEO of American International Group (AIG) let me know.
Yarrow
@Bobby D: Based on his behavior, it would not surprise me if the Russians have something on Comey. It would not be the CIA I’d be worried about if I were Comey. The Russians don’t play around. If he becomes less useful to them…
Elie
@tpherald:
Presuming we have free and fair elections again after this.
hovercraft
@Spanky:
Yesterday someone had a post about the Post hiring a bunch of reporters to help him dig through bullshit mountain over the next four years. Someone should ask them what all those other “reporters” they already employ do all day.
Botsplainer
Time: the very near future
Place: Trump Tower
There is a meeting taking place. POTUS, his daughter, his son-in-law, his sons, his personal private chief of security and three of those private security team members are meeting with SECDEF, the JCS, DHS and all branch secretaries. They are addressing a series of attacks on Trump properties in Istanbul, Mumbai and the Phillipines that occurred after a surprise Israeli incursion into southern Lebanon and followon attacks on infrastructure in Beirut – the incursion announced “to meet tactical and strategic needs for the security and safety of residents of Galilee and the Golan”.
The attacks on the Trump properties resulted in major loss of life numbered in the hundreds, and the need for demolition of the Mumbai property, and a years’ long restoration of the other two. Lloyd’s has publicly announced a refusal to issue new reinsurance lines on any Trump holdings after expiration of current contracts.
Daesh has announced responsibility for the Istanbul attack, and has stated that it coordinated with other Muslims in the other locations as part of “a joint Muslim effort against ‘Zionist-imperialist crusaders from the West, who are determined to ignore the truth expressed by The Prophet. They oppress our brothers in Palestine and Holy Jerusalem, they manipulate our resources to their own pleasure and ends, and they deprive us with trade sanctions to make us sick and poor. That time is over. We have chosen the symbols of their supreme idol so that they stop treating us with disrespect”.
POTUS has announced that he wishes to send an unmistakable message to radical fundamentalists, and to therefore launch weapons with 20 to 50 kt of yield at Raqaa, Syria (population 200,000), Bandar Abbas naval facilities in Iran and at Iranian Air Force bases outside Tabriz, Tehran, Hamadan, Dezful, Bushehr and Shiraz. As POTUS says “use them
or don’t have them”.
SECDEF and the JCS have spent an hour trying to convince POTUS of the severe ramifications of such an act, and anticipate a death toll over 500,000. POTUS ignores their concerns, and says “I’m ordering it.”
SECDEF and the JCS have stated that it is an illegal order, and have announced their refusal to comply. POTUS has asked for their resignations, and when they refuse to do so, states “you’re fired”, and picks up the telephone for their deputies. When they attempt to leave, he has his private security team block their exit and their access to communications. The young naval commander with the briefcase with the codes sits mutely and warily, and the Secret Service agents look at each other in confusion.
So my question today is what happens next?
Doug R
@Rand Careaga: Is this maybe why they didn’t gang up on Trump? The fix was in from the primary? Blackmail?
Elie
@Mnemosyne:
I can always use a hug. Thanks!
JPL
@Bobby D: Did he us e-mail to communicate?
manyakitty
@tpherald: Hahaha. You say that like we’ll get to vote again.
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah: Kudlow is simply setting up a defense for Trump and his minions when all their financial shenanigans inevitably come to light.
hovercraft
@Chris:
How about we start out “small”, lets have a rich black person try that defense. After all everyone knows that by definition, the Mafia are criminals, oh, um I see the problem…….
Mike in DC
The CIA report will land like a bomb the day it’s released. Whether it’s a dud or a devastating blast will depend upon the strength of the evidence and the commitment of some politicians and investigative reporters to follow up on it.
Patricia Kayden
@hovercraft: Sadly the WP may be our only hope for actual journalism during the Trump’s years. NYT has completely capitulated with reporters trying to catfish us about Trump’s racism.
germy
[ducks]
zhena gogolia
@Spanky:
Yes, she’s on fire lately.
SiubhanDuinne
@delk:
Going commando.
Such happy news! Thanks!
Botsplainer
@germy:
The guy who helped bring us “millyunayuhs and billyunayuhs” into the halls of power by the gross can kiss my fucking spotty white ass.
He’ll do good to hang on to his fucking Vermont sinecure. If Ds don’t run somebody against him, since we’ll be in the minority anyway, I’ll be happy to contribute to his GOP opponent.
schrodingers_cat
@germy: Forget it Germy, its Guardian. Guardian loves purity ponies who are ineffective politicians.
Elie
@Mike in DC:
I’m not sure that all the most damaging info will be made public. If it requires sharing some of our most sophisticated info and/ or tools maybe not. The question becomes “what’s next?” Maybe Adam can comment because I have no idea. Could the CIA act unilaterally on some course of action? Could Obama in one of his last acts order something?
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
Occasionally, a story comes along that gives you a smile.
Gun-loving conservative columnist accidentally killed after letting teen boy hold his firearm
I don’t call it a tragedy. I call it serendipity. So far, 2016 has claimed too many good and decent scalps, both living and dead. Let us revel in this one.
ETA: The commentary all over is comedy gold. Some samples:
“He died the way he wanted to, according to his own writings – from a gun, in his home, accidentally.”
“He died the way he lived: being an idiot.”
Elie
@schrodingers_cat:
LOL! Trudat
JPL
@Botsplainer: I don’t know about you, but I remember the duck and cover drill. It’s worth a try.
The Thin Black Duke
@germy: I’ll believe it when St. Bernie releases his tax returns.
Johannes
@Elie: I just wanted to say that I’m so sorry for the burden you’re carrying. That’s a brutal trifecta you’re dealing with. I hope that you’re getting support to help you cope. Please take care of you.
Elie
@Adam L Silverman:
Adam can you comment on # 120 where I talk about how the results of the special report on Russian hacking might be handled?
Chris
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
I misread it the first time and thought the child had killed himself, which would’ve been horrific.
The fact that the child killed his father is still horrific, though mostly for the child. He’ll be paying for shrinks for decades to come and probably the rest of his life. I can only hope that’s enough to keep him sane and on an even keel.
I’m pretty sure that’s the only negative thing about the father’s departure from the world, though.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@JPL:
Fuck duck and cover. If I’m close enough to a target when it looks like it is coming, I’m going to the middle of it with a bottle of whiskey in hand and giving my finger to the trail as it comes in.
ruemara
@rikyrah: There isn’t any money or media attention in not accusing Obama of using respectability politics and generating outrage. Particularly on the left.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@Chris:
He didn’t kill his dad – he killed the wingnut.
Elie
@Johannes:
Bless you. Yes. I have friends (still) and a therapist. NAMI has been a real help also ( National Assoc For Mental Illness) which has good support groups and resource info. Please understand – I love my husband and will do my best to support him. I have limits tho. Everyone does.
Roger Moore
@Chris:
Not his father. He and his father were visiting the columnist, who was the one who was killed. I still think the kid is going to have big issues for a long time, but at least his father will be there to help him.
glory b
@germy: Yeah, but he was the first one to run to the mike and say he was ready to work with President Trump.
Then, when he realized he had gotten too far ahead of his minions, tried to walk it back.
I heard him on On Point on npr (the program about where the Dems go from here, I’m still not sure why all media outlets call on a non Dem as the new Dem leadership, but whatev), denying he ever said it. The host said, “But Sen Sanders, I’m reading your direct quote here.” St. Bernie continued to insist he didn’t say it.
But if he wants to reverse course, so be it. I don’t want everyone acting like he is the pure, loyal, true from the beginning opposition, even his buddy Tom Hartmann was scratching his head over this.
schrodingers_cat
@ruemara: Is it just me or does any one else find TNC and his entire schtick after President Obama’s reelection a bit wearying.
ruemara
@Chris: Still misreading it. The boy killed Harmon, no mention of being related. But you are correct, this poor kid now needs counseling help.
@schrodingers_cat: I was tired of it before re-election. Just like I’m tired of being told 70’s era beneficent benchwarmer Sanders is our future & hope to defeat Trump.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
So we now got us some big assed Russian sanctions and a pile of expulsions.
Chris
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
@Roger Moore:
And now I reread again (I thought his father was the wingnut). Jesus, reading comprehension of extremely simple citations isn’t my thing today. Thanks.
Makes me feel at least somewhat better. I’m sure much of what I said still applies, but at least he doesn’t have to live with “I killed my father.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
there’s livestreams! press releases!
schrodingers_cat
Democrats should not have let a person who couldn’t even commit to being a member of their party contest the party’s nomination for Presidency.
SiubhanDuinne
@Chris:
I think you must have misread it the second time, too. The teenager didn’t kill his father; he killed this Harmon guy (a conservative, gun-loving local columnist).
Even when it’s a Darwin Award contender, as this certainly is, I can’t take much pleasure in reading this kind of story.
ETA: I see that about a thousand others, including you, got there while I was laboriously typing my comment. Story of my life.
Elizabelle
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: What a loss. Not.
glory b
@efgoldman: Whatever became of Our Revolution? Wasn’t it supposed to be a massive fundraising behemoth that would bestow its funding on Bernie approved candidates?
The last I heard, over half the staff quit when they heard Jeff Weaver was going to have a role. Bernie won’t throw Jeff overboard and that was the last I heard of it.
I figured it would be a place for them to show that the socialist-lite version had a chance to roll up some wins.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: I was glad the gunhumper went to his reward, fired upon by his precious. Better his gun take his life than someone else’s.
Elizabelle
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: And he has TIME to do this. Because ….
schrodingers_cat
@ruemara: Sanders will make the Democrats as effective as Corbyn’s Labor party. That would be suicide.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Adam L Silverman: Not to mention at what point does McCain says “I was tortured by the commies for this?”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@glory b: It’s mentioned in the Guardian piece
I’d be interested in seeing some evidence of the group’s effectiveness
Major Major Major Major
@glory b: didn’t the senate Dems make Bernie director of dem outreach or something?
Betty Cracker
@schrodingers_cat: I’ve been a Democrat for all of my adult life, and when I recently applied for a committee spot in a local party organization, I had to fill out a form providing my voter registration number and stating how long I’d been a party member. It amazes me that the Cockroach Acres Democratic Club requires its lowliest functionaries to provide proof of party membership and inquires about length of affiliation, but any old rando can up and run for president on the Democratic Party ticket.
SiubhanDuinne
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Wait, what? You’re making it sound like McCain was a POW or something! I’m sure we would have heard something about that if it were true.
Chris
@SiubhanDuinne:
We’ve all been there. Thanks for the thought, though!
@glory b:
Whereas instead of showing Bernie’s skills, the campaign eventually devolved into an extended whine that the DNC wouldn’t simply roll over and give him the nomination (which made the bitching about a Hillary “coronation” hilarious).
All of which is still excusable in the context of a primary, but when the same rocket scientists suddenly resurge after the election to say they should be put in charge, we have a problem.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@efgoldman: I’m just preemptively baiting the BernieBats in case the signal went up
Mike in DC
Here’s the thing. If the CIA had a scintilla of evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, would they put it into the report? Or would they just leave some obvious bread crumbs for senators and journalists to follow up on?
Another Scott
@Betty Cracker:
“Best way” is too limiting. We have to fight him and his minions on every front with every available tool.
I just noticed today that someone about a mile from our home has a “Blue Lives Matter” flag hanging from some of their shrubbery….
The Teabaggers and their supporters, and those who aren’t really supporters but know an opportunity when they see it, are going to do everything they can to push their agendas. We have to fight them every . single . day…
Cheers,
Scott.
Elizabelle
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
Here’s the kind of commentary the precious deprived the world of, in shooting conservative columnist M.D. Harmon in an “accidental tragedy”, in his wife’s words.
Picture of the guy. What do you know. A white male, charismatic Christian. Former Army and Reserves, too.
Obama Flounces out of Office ….
And then a whole column of cherry-picking.
Good riddance.
HeidiMom
@delk: Wonderful news! So glad to hear that he’s home, and happy. And that you are, too.
Gin & Tonic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Well, there’s US Congresswoman Zephyr Teachout. Oh, wait…
schrodingers_cat
@Elizabelle: I have never heard of this rag, and I used to live in Maine.
ruemara
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Look no further than the bold new wave of progressive downticket candidates across the country and the wealth of media Our Revolution commands!
In that other universe where Trump didn’t win.
Elizabelle
More on the dearly departed Maine gunhumper/columnist.
Realize this is more than most of us care to know about that cold critter. Dead by his own gun. Alas. Not.
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: I’m not usually one to dance on graves, but I can help but be mildly amused that the gloating fuckstick didn’t outlive the Obama administration.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker:
It’s a pallid effort to even up the scales of the good people #fuck2016 took from our midst.
But it’s a start.
Elizabelle
@schrodingers_cat: Somehow, that does not sound like a complaint.
Interesting, though. Not a major Maine paper.
Googling to check out the newspaper, and I see that Dan Savage has picked up on this “accidental tragedy.”
2016 Claims Another Soul—No, Wait. Stupidity and Karma Got This One
Major Major Major Major
@Gin & Tonic: obviously she didn’t believe hard enough. Or perhaps that district had minorities in it.
@ruemara: or in that other parallel universe where leftists are capable of organizing enough sticks to rub together and make a fire.
bystander
@Elizabelle: Thanks. I needed my face slapped to stop my crying jag.
hovercraft
@Botsplainer:
The scary thing is that the situation described is not inconceivable.
WASF
Elizabelle
@bystander: I don’t know about that.
But I think we are all going to have to be careful about our moods and mental states, to the extent that’s under our control. Anxiety is a terrible thing. I love “Balloon Juice” as a blog, but sometimes it’s industrial strength despair, and then one has to step away, unless one is made of kryptonite.
Gin & Tonic
@Major Major Major Major: The 19th CD of New York, where she ran and outspent her opponent by at least 2-1 is largely white and rural. It’s the CD where the carpetbagger Sean Eldridge failed to win in 2014.
Elizabelle
@efgoldman: My bad. I assumed, from a previous comment. Felix Unger would have something to say there.
ETA: Incidentally, how did your open house go? Made me wish I was up in the area Monday …
Brachiator
Some aspects of human nature are weird. “Upper class” people love to pretend that they are morally superior to everyone else, and the supposedly “lower classes” often buy into the bullshit.
JPL
Adam, What do you think about the President’s executive order?
hovercraft
@germy:
I saw that earlier at GOS, I ignored it. All of the party is going to fight for Medicare and Medicaid, it’s a political no-brainer. If Bernie wants to hold a series of rallies across the country to highlight it fine with me. But don’t claim that he is leading the fight to save them, say he is a leading voice in the fight, and you won’t hear a peep out of me. I’m all for us rowing in the same direction, what pisses me off is when he or his fans jump on things we are all already for, and then claim he brought us there.
Another Scott
@Adam L Silverman: Should the Logan Act be dusted off?
I’d like a personal unicorn to go along with the indictment, thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Major Major Major Major: @ruemara: or in that other parallel universe where leftists are capable of organizing enough sticks to rub together and make a fire.
Or where leftists, or people in general, vote on actual issues rather than personality and how a candidate makes them feel. I read two articles in the last week about Dems or Dem-leaners who voted for Trump, and the reasons given were as depressing as you’d expect: He didn’t mean that stuff, something about e-mails. a Bernista who thought Clinton would start another war and Trump won’t (I don’t know what these people think “bomb the shit out of them” and “take the oil” mean) a woman in CA who wrote in Kaisch because HRC’s final speech in Philly was uninspiring especially after the Obamas’ on that same night (and… what were they trying to “inspire” you to do, Einstein?) and a guy in FL who would’ve voted for HRC if he thought Clinton would win, but wrote in Paul Ryan because Clinton was “arrogant”— at least that guy was a Republican.
Elie
@glory b:
Of course he won’t throw Weaver overboard. He knows where all the bodies (and tax return info) is buried. Dude is safe forever
Elizabelle
@hovercraft:
Thank you. This person has raised that to an art form.
MomSense
@Elizabelle:
The Press Herald is the big paper in Maine.
Elizabelle
@MomSense: Thank you. I got that very wrong, and should have checked.
So: the dead by his own gun had a prominent perch for his column. OK.
hovercraft
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
Sometimes the goddess just can’t help herself, she gives you exactly what you ask for.
FREEDOM !!!!
Another Scott
@Chris: Yup. It would make Erdogan’s campaign against the apparent tens of millions of Gülenists that are part of the conspiracy against him look like a tea party.
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
schrodingers_cat
@MomSense: I stand corrected.
@Elizabelle: I misled you. I was wrong. My anecdata was not infallible. I did not live in the Portland area, that’s why I hadn’t heard of it.
The Pale Scot
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
Sorry, I’m tired of not being happy about this sort of stuff. Yes I giggled at the moron who handed an Uzi machine pistol to a 9 yr old girl and got smoked by the uncontrolled recoil drift.
I learned gun safety from a Marine as child, but it’s not like this is mystery stuff. Everybody knows the rules. You’re going pass the gun from one person to another. U check the breech to see if it’s loaded/charged. Even if it’s a gun being passed around to just be admired by other really really gun knowledgeable people.
Fucking clear the barrel, asshole. I hope it was a gut shot.
Chris
@hovercraft:
This enraged me throughout the campaign. The fact that, coming off of eight years of the most progressive reforms we’d seen at any point since the mid-sixties, he and his fans were running around completely ignoring them and presenting him as the first guy who’d thought of economic justice in his life was ridiculous. Especially when he’d spent decades in Congress twiddling his thumbs and doing nothing.
Elizabelle
@The Pale Scot: This weasel rose to Lt. Colonel in the US Army Reserve. And it’s said he served in the Army in (or during?) Vietnam.
So, thank you for that service, and you are as dead as a gangbanger, by your own weapon. WTG.
Elizabelle
deleted. Duplicate comment.
Another Scott
@Doug R: I think the reticence of the press and other politicians to go after Donnie in the campaign was due to (probably unstated) fear of his money and his “TV savvy”, not any sort of blackmail.
The GOP sings the praises of the wealthy, and Donnie (unlike Rmoney) was willing to stop using the dog whistles and instead use the megaphone to rile up the rubes about all the horrible things they’ve been talking about for the last 50+ years. They couldn’t go after him without damaging the foundation of their party.
The press has far too often taken money to be a metric for power, competence, and virtue. They were incapable of ignoring him, and thus continually increased his power (while simultaneously increasing their revenue and (at least temporary) relevance).
Cheers,
Scott.
hovercraft
@glory b:
And how many of those pure of heart progressives won? I stopped paying attention the night of the election, I do know that one of the loudest and purest Zephyer Teachout (sic) lost. Should the revolution have carried these vanguards to victory?
Cacti
@efgoldman:
Considering he went immediately back to being an Independent Democratic Socialist, I’d say the first one.
Cacti
@hovercraft:
Teachout lost, Feingold lost. A Republican was elected Governor of Vermont, and Colorado went blue while rejecting the shit out of a single payer healthcare referendum. The simmering Democratic Socialist revolution was just a tad overstated by its proponents.
Elie
@Another Scott:
I don’t think these folks are going to be ready for how far things are off the grid yet. There will be a whole lot of chaos and confusion. There may also be some opportunity as well for new and unexpected alliances. We are off the old play book Jan 21
debbie
If this isn’t proof that Trump will be 100% a Russian stooge, I don’t know what would be.
On the other hand, can Paul Ryan please pick a side and stick to it?
Another Scott
@SiubhanDuinne: Except when W and his team was saying that waterboarding wasn’t torture. Didn’t hear too much from St. John McCain then (the odd speech or comment, but he certainly didn’t throw his weight behind stopping it).
McCain had a chance to be a good Senator and maybe even a decent President, but he threw it all away to stay in W’s and the GOP’s good graces in 2000. I have no confidence that he won’t do the same with his remaining influence in 2017.
Cheers,
Scott.
ruemara
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I read some of that and I despaired because they couldn’t feel that stopping a goddamned racist being in control of the fucking united states of america was a priority. I’m fully checked out on left & right orgs. Call me when people wake up. I’m sorry it will require death & destruction and I hope enough of the Constitution and this country will be left to try to preserve.
Miss Bianca
@Botsplainer: Damn it, man! You have a fatal facility both with words and with Doomsday scenarios.
debbie
@Botsplainer:
SECDEF and the JCS make fun of Trump’s tiny hands, his security detail collapses in laughter, and the escape route is cleared.
(though I know you’d like something more violent)
Major Major Major Major
@Cacti: the CO single payer referendum was kind of half baked and would have been a disaster under president trump, there were legitimate reasons to reject it.
Gin & Tonic
@Cacti: Not to get into all the other factors, but NY’s 19th CD, since the 2010 redistricting, has not been kind to those it views as carpetbaggers. in 2014, Sean Eldridge thought his mega-rich husband could buy him the seat, and it didn’t work. So in 2015 Teachout moved up there from Brooklyn, soon announced her candidacy for the seat, and was also sent home.
Another Scott
@hovercraft: OurRevolution: Our 2016 Candidates lists them all. Dog catcher and up. You’ll see very, very few national candidates there, and many of those ran unopposed…
Cheers,
Scott.
Ella in New Mexico
@efgoldman:
Seriously, I’m beginning to believe that because of our essential moral and political characters 99% of Democrats are incapable of organizing anything anymore given the nature of our enemy. Anyone of us ruthless enough to do it will get condemned in 30 seconds for “crossing the lines” or “overplaying their hand”. Or worse yet, will be suspect as only doing it for themselves and their posterity.
So given that, just how do you fight people who were willing to sell their souls to Russia in order to win and election? And who’s supporters now just smile and shrug and say “Meh! It’s not such a big deal.” ? while they moan about how much money Obama spent on his last “vacation to Hawaii” in office?
No, we’ll still be fighting among ourselves about the 2015-2016 Primary season when TrumpCo deconstructs not only the entire New Deal but every improvement we’ve made on it.
hovercraft
@Betty Cracker:
Justice, it can be poetic.
Also too, that bitch karma.
Elizabelle
@Botsplainer: Well written.
I would guess cooler heads in the military are gaming out scenarios like that, too.
ETA: heads not cooler than you! But cooler than those inclined to support Trump.
Chris
@debbie:
The administration’s foreign policy didn’t leave America weaker. The conversion of an entire opposition party into a radical movement that refused to cooperate with its president on anything up to and including things as basic as funding the government, or granting the president the authorization for a military action they themselves had just demanded he take, signaled to interested parties that the United States government was now so paralyzed, dysfunctional, and divided, that there were now opportunities unprecedented since the Civil War to shove wedges into the cracks and start prying at them.
And boy howdy, did they seize them.
liberal
Atrios, FTW:
debbie
@Another Scott:
The most available tool to me is to proclaim at every opportunity that Trump has zero legitimacy.
Captain C
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Why is it that so many gun nuts don’t seem to understand that you take extreme safety measures (including warning the person you’re handing it to) if you’re passing around a loaded gun with a bullet in the chamber?
Ella in New Mexico
@Spanky:
Ordinarily I’d mostly agree, but today’s events may make that matter moot. Especially if the actors were have found to have been a key part of what made the enemy “the enemy” again.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/29/barack-obama-sanctions-russia-election-hack
Captain C
@efgoldman:
Nice, but I would go with ‘couldn’t organize a picnic if you spotted them the basket, the sandwiches, the beer, the blanket, and the ants.’
liberal
@Cacti: Yawn. As if there’s no other explanation for a candidates success, like charisma, tone, etc.
Major Major Major Major
@Captain C: I’m not even much of a shooter and I know that “every gun is always loaded” and “only point a gun at something you are willing to destroy”.
Another Scott
@Elizabelle: It’s not a new problem.
WashingtonTimes from 2015:
This is why W’s people were so determined to find a way to argue that torture was legal, etc., etc. People in the military are trained that they must disobey illegal orders.
Cheers,
Scott.
(There is the little problem, though, that the President has a lot of leway in the performance of his/her duties as Commander in Chief. :-( [edit:] But surely the case can be made that killing 500,000 in revenge for an attack on a foreign hotel qualifies as a war crime…)
Ella in New Mexico
@Elizabelle: MAN. Karma actually exists.
liberal
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Or that parallel universe where non-leftist President and titular head of the Democratic Party, Obama, acts like a leader and invigorates state-level parties, instead of letting them die on the vine.
Or that parallel universe where non-leftist President and titular head of the Democratic Party, Obama, doesn’t foolishly appoint Comey to be Director of the FBI.
Or…
schrodingers_cat
@debbie: Yes indeed.
May be I am an elitist upper caste east coast person I cannot respect a crude individual just because he has money, no matter what his social status. It goes against every fiber of my being and my upbringing and my heritage. Say what you will about the Hindu caste system, the most respected caste is that is the one dedicated to knowledge and learning not wealth accumulation. The most respected person is the teacher, more revered than Brahma, Vishnu or Mahesh (The Hindu trinity) or God himself/herself.
I cannot and will not respect a celebration of ignorance. Even if it has gotten itself elevated to the highest office in the land.
hovercraft
@debbie:
Every single person who asks him a question should ask him why the soon to be president he supports and endorsed, kissing Putin’s ass, and citing him as a strong leader who has the respect of his people and the global community, all while denying that he hacked our electoral process, kills journalists, and oppresses his people, all while both sanctioning and participating in genocide, makes us look in the eyes of the world.
Oh and Paul Ryan can go die in a fucking fire while screwing himself with a Ebola infected rusty rake. Useless piece of shit.
liberal
@Another Scott:
Nope. The entire invasion of Iraq was thoroughly illegal, yet the fraction of servicemen/women who refused to serve was smaller than a rounding error.
Kathleen
@schrodingers_cat: I’m not a fan. He was also a Bernbot. I don’t read writers who were Bernbots.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Ron Fournier, Dickie Cohen and now “liberal”: Why can’t Obama leeeaad.?
I would think Eschaton, at least as I left it eight years ago when the PUMAs and Naderites joined forces to agree that Obama was the worst president ever– I think the last thread I read they, I think Atrios himself joined in, were speculating that Sonia Sotomayor was a secret pro-life vote, because reasons– would be a much more congenial place for you. But then you wouldn’t get to be such an antagonistic dick. Also known as a “troll”
liberal
@schrodingers_cat:
You’re assuming Trump actually has money, which isn’t really clear.
Gin & Tonic
@efgoldman: For at least three months prior to November 8, my dear wife, who is most assuredly *not* a politics junkie, and who despises Il Donaldo as much as any of the jackals here, kept telling me “you know, he might win.” I kept replying “nah, that’s not possible.”
Shows how smart I am.
Emma
What is it with the Bernie whiners? No matter what the topic they drag him in like a reluctant mule.
ruckus
@rikyrah:
Two things. First, it sounds like several got caught and if they didn’t deserve the money they probably could pay at least a percentage back. Second, of course food stamps has to be stopped, you can’t expect rich and/or white people to actually be part of a civilized society can you?
Major Major Major Major
@liberal: your statement doesn’t actually refute what you’re saying “nope” to.
hedgehog mobile
@delk: Yay!
Elizabelle
@liberal: Yeah. We know so little about PEW-OTUS because no tax returns and — even then, especially with real estate, you can hide assets and debt in limited liability companies that are hard to pierce.
That said, Ms. Cat’s point is a good one. Have to admire a culture that appreciates wisdom and learning over flash trash cash.
Shomi
@liberal:
People here, at least as this thread is concerned, have been bashing Bernie and Bernie alone for understandable reasons. Please don’t start another Circular Firing Squad. We don’t need your sniping.
schrodingers_cat
@liberal: The appearance of wealth is what impresses his followers and unfortunately for us, the media.
Major Major Major Major
@Shomi: ooh, fake troll on real troll action!
Shomi
By the way, does anybody know what happened to srv?
Chris
@hovercraft:
“Gosh, Neville Chamberlain’s just terrible. He’s totally weakened Britain’s standing abroad, Germany’s taking over everywhere. Sad! Now vote for Oswald Mosley.”
glory b
@hovercraft: One would have thought…
debbie
@schrodingers_cat:
I intend to poke at my family members with the rusty sticks of each and every shortcoming of Trump until they fall sick with lockjaw. Presidential caliber, my ass.
ruckus
@Emma:
Bernie isn’t reluctant. He LIKES the attention.
And a lot of his fans have figured out that they no longer have to hold their breath to get some attention for themselves.
Cacti
@liberal:
Unpossible.
They spoke to the economic anxieties of the white working class. This alone should have propelled them to resounding victories. The chief proponent of this philosophy is now on a national book hawking tour saying as much.
debbie
@efgoldman:
Ooh, but wouldn’t that be fun to watch?
Another Scott
@efgoldman: “… that’s OK. Trump grabbed my backback…”
;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Shomi
@Major Major Major Major:
The question is who’s fake and who’s real?
schrodingers_cat
@debbie: Not even an ordinary human being caliber. We would have never heard of this person if his father was not wealthy.
Jacel
@joel hanes: Agree with how Night Herons appear in the daylight. They also look like they should have a cigarette with a long ash dangling from their beak.
schrodingers_cat
@Shomi: Kremlin gave him a more important assignment than trolling Balloon Juice?
/snark
hovercraft
@liberal:
Green Lantern Alert!
Major Major Major Major
@Shomi: you’re the puppet!
Cacti
@schrodingers_cat:
I was going to say the roubles ran out.
Miss Bianca
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Who knows, one of these days there may be some actual progressive action!
Captain C
@Botsplainer: Given the plan to attack one of Russia’s allies, and that Putin probably would have the room bugged, something like this may well happen:
[phone rings]
Putin: “Hello, Donald? You’re going a bit overboard with your petty revenge against our friends in Iran. If you don’t stand down immediately, in addition to the various military options we will consider, including total cyberwar against both the USA and your business interests in particular, we will release the Moscow Hotel Room video. You know, the one with cute little Natasha…”
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
This is good that knowledge and learning is respected, even though ultimately I prefer a system that does not set up a hierarchy of human beings, and does not set anyone apart as “untouchable.”
.
Shomi
If so then he was deep undercover for the last couple years, heh. Some people here thought he was some kind of performance artist. I never thought his act was funny. Too understated.
schrodingers_cat
@Cacti: That works too or a promotion for Comrade srv.
PaulWartenberg2016
We had a bobcat stroll by in the garden behind Bartow Library last week.
schrodingers_cat
@Shomi: He gave me good suggestions for restaurants in the Bay Area and other stuff to do, once I was there.
Shomi
@Major Major Major Major:
No puppet no puppet, you’re the puppet!
schrodingers_cat
@PaulWartenberg2016: So cool! Pictures?
Corner Stone
@Shomi:
He’s dead. I tracked him from CA all the way to Reno, NV. Where I shot him, just to watch him kvetch.
JPL
@Captain C: His voters would not care unless it was a video of a menage a trois, and the Don is screwing a guy. I hate to be crude, but that’s what it would take.
SatanicPanic
hey if anyone has a moment to spare, they should call Simon and Schuster and tell them that paying Milo Yiannopoulis for a book is f*cked up. I did and apparently they’re getting lots of calls about that today.
schrodingers_cat
@Brachiator: I did say, despite its flaws, hereditary professions is a flaw and one of the reasons for ossification. Although its not just a Hindu or an Indian problem.
ETA: I will not defend untouchablility, it is wrong.
Corner Stone
@Captain C:
Ummm, I am not sure quite how to explain this to you…but…extreme safety measure do not include passing anyone a loaded weapon.
In fact, very, very, normal safety measures include checking and manually safety clearing a weapon pretty much anytime it’s anywhere but actually engaged on the hunt.
Miss Bianca
@Chris: yeah, what you said. Wish I could have stated that as eloquently, and I wish one of our national Democratic or “Democratic” leaders would stand up and say exactly that.
Shomi
@schrodingers_cat:
He was an enigma, srv. Why troll a place and be helpaul to the people you’re trying to troll?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Miss Bianca: @Chris: I would like to see please all the many times Paul Ryan, John McCain and Lindsey Graham have called for increased attention and spending on cyber-security in the last eight years.
Major Major Major Major
@JPL: even then we all know that video wouldn’t have been meant to be taken literally.
Shomi
@efgoldman:
Not the same shomi. I created this nym to troll the real shomi. Notice the capitalized S.
Edit: I thought GrandJury was shomi under different nym?
Cacti
@Captain C:
FTFY
I’ve also wondered how Conald thinks he’s going to pull off a love triangle of international relations with Putin and Bibi, when the former is a patron of Syria and Iran, and the latter considers both to be mortal enemies of Israel.
ArchTeryx
The Age of Fear. It is to laugh. I’m watching what may well be the last days of my life count down, and people talk about living in the Age of Fear? A lot of these yahoos have no idea what real fear IS. Staring down your own death, that’s fear. Combat veterans might have something to say about that, too. Most of the rest of the Deplorables, not so much.
Miss Bianca
@liberal: Or that parallel universe where you actually say anything worth listening to.
Kathleen
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Wasn’t Russ Feingold the poster candidate for Bernie’s success?
Mike in DC
@Another Scott:
The insolence of office, and the spurns that patient merit of the unworthy takes…
ruckus
@Captain C:
Why don’t they understand that even when it’s not loaded, you always treat it like it is?
Elizabelle
@Cacti: Yeah, I was thinking that too about Natasha.
And a more than passing resemblance to Ivanka. …
schrodingers_cat
@Shomi: He was has been on Balloon Juice for a long time. His annoying troll avatar has been much more recent. He was also a good archivist for the blog, could find a comment/reference from years ago, in a flash.
Roger Moore
@Captain C:
You don’t pass around a loaded gun. You make sure it’s unloaded before passing it around, and if the person you’re giving it to is even halfway trained, they’ll check to make sure it’s unloaded before doing anything else. The idea that guns should be kept loaded is insanity. If you are in such a rush that you can’t take the time to load- or at least to chamber a round- before firing, the chances are you aren’t going to be able to hit anything anyway.
Chris
@Captain C:
If Putin actually cares about his Iran relationship (it’s not unimaginable that he’d throw them under the bus for the sake of a newly friendly America), I could totally see him just remaining in regular contact with Trump and reassuring him that “don’t worry. We’re keeping an eye on Iran. We’ll keep them under control.”
Elizabelle
@schrodingers_cat: Yeah. Hadn’t noticed srv was missing, but took him for more of a parody troll. Who knows if him was a him.
Shomi
@schrodingers_cat:
I’ll take your word for it
raven
This should prompt a new thread!
Cacti
@Kathleen:
Well, he had already lost once before.
Zephyr Teachout OTOH was the model soldier for the new progressive revolutionary vanguard. And in blue New York, she was supposed to be a slam dunk win for Bernie’s new cadre of elected officials.
Botsplainer
@Captain C:
Every gun I handle is cleared, announced clear and pointed down before I hand it to someone else. On the range, if I help my wife load, I place it on the bench aimed downrange and announce “hot”.
JPL
@raven: What? If the sanctions didn’t deserve a new thread, I doubt that will.
raven
@JPL: I wasn’t thinking of it as a topic, I just usually post stuff I find interesting only to have a new thready pop up!
Roger Moore
@Cacti:
Which leads to an interesting question: what happens when either A) Putin no longer wants to prop up Trump and/or B) Trump actually gets enough graft that he doesn’t need Putin’s money anymore?
debbie
@SatanicPanic:
You must have a much higher opinion of S&S than I do because they’re exactly the house Milos deserves. His statements in the article you linked to sound scarily like Trump. They deserve each other.
Botsplainer
@JPL:
They’d blame him fucking a guy on libruls and permissive society.
debbie
@efgoldman:
I’d bet he has sex tapes on all of the GOP. That’s such a KGB kind of trick, and Putin’s never lost that mentality.
SatanicPanic
@debbie: I know they publish garbage like Glenn Beck, but that guy deserves no money for publishing anything. Time to start pushing back.
Botsplainer
@efgoldman:
Melania escorting?
JPL
@raven: One of the Roswell High players committed to the Hokies.
Roswell QB Malik Willis (Virginia Tech commit) has thrown for 2,562 yards and rushed for 1,033.
raven
@JPL: Yea I remember you saying that.
Chris
@Botsplainer:
Yep. It’s what they do when Catholic priests are caught abusing little boys (never mind that the existence of any link between pedophilia and homosexuality is questionable, to say the least). It’s what they did all through the primaries with reference to all of Trump’s problems – that Obama’s imperial presidency had created a culture in which autocrats like Trump would thrive (notice incidentally that, like all of their criticisms of Trump, they’ve completely STFU about it since he actually won. Now he’s just another good conservative).
For people who talk about it all the time, I’ve never seen a group of people as completely incapable of practicing personal responsibility as modern conservatives.
debbie
@SatanicPanic:
Well, his book will be an instant remainder, which is exactly what he deserves.
Roger Moore
@efgoldman:
Just from a casual reading of the news, I’d guess that at least 90% of gun “accidents” could be avoided if idiots didn’t insist on keeping guns in condition 1, and a substantial part of the remainder would be eliminated if they stored their guns and ammunition separately.
Corner Stone
@Roger Moore:
This is a man who was supposedly a billionaire and told his C@s!no Operations Mgr to stop doing $1000 charity giveaways to the local community. A person who setup the DJT Foundation to launder OPM to himself, his family and his political causes.
He has failed at everything in his life and is for once on the cusp of all the wealth and graft one could imagine. IMO, it will never be enough. He will be unable to moderate his, and his family’s, looting of the commonweal. It’s going to be like gangrene that everyone refuses to acknowledge and will eventually turn septic and eat everything it touches.
He’s not going to be able to stop. His kids really are American versions of Saddam’s sons. They have no idea what they are doing is wrong because, who in the hell has ever bothered to tell them so?
Corner Stone
god dammit. fuck you word press
LAC
@JPL: oh did the president do something? Woooo… I hope it wasn’t disappointing because if he did it might be not enough and then it would be disappointing because it was not enough to not be disappointing because it is disa…..?????
Russia whining about it… fuck ’em.
Davis X. Machina
@schrodingers_cat: And the learned gain that respect on the strength of their learning, not their birth or wealth.
I did my graduate work in classics with the son of a Wilkes-Barre hard coal miner, and the daughter of a Philadelphia Main-Line millionaire.
Either you could read Greek, or you couldn’t.
The republic of learning should — should — be the most democratic of states.
Felonius Monk
@Cacti:
This was a disaster from the get-go. She was an outsider in a very red district running to replace a popular, retiring Repub and her opponent was a very well known Repub who had the full weight of the Big Red Machine behind him while she only had lukewarm support from the Dems. As I said, a disaster from the beginning. Really doesn’t say much for the smarts of the Big Bernie political revolution.
Roger Moore
@efgoldman:
Donald and Ivanka. Bank on it.
ruemara
@efgoldman: Considering Trump’s predilections towards underage women, he most certainly is on tape. His trips to Russia and Russia’s own human trafficking problem seem to be perfectly made for compromising footage.
@Roger Moore: ugh. I’ve been calling them a dropped chromosome cadre of Borgias for a reason. I honestly feel she’s, shall we say, been conditioned by her father and has a level of sociopathy combined with intelligence that he & the boys lack. Do not believe her kind mother schtick. She’s got her plans as well.
Botsplainer
@debbie:
I know McConnell liked chicken when he was a local official. I knew two reliable political lawyers – both now dead – who swore to their existence. One was Republican and one was a Democrat (GOPer had been a state senator and the Dem had been city safety director). They both despised him for being power hungry. Anyway, they claimed at the courthouse coffee lounge that the Binghams (Courier Journal publishers, pre Gannett) held onto the photo to dampen his ambition beyond the Senate. As I understand, his police driver didn’t think much of him or his habits and took the photos.
I’m guessing those pics are long gone, once Barry Bingham died. Probably everybody who saw them, too. The GOP state senator got Lou Gehrig’s and died about 6 years ago, the former city law director blew his brains out in a stairwell 15 years ago. It’s a shame, they were funny, great guys.
ETA – Guessing that Mitch continued liking chicken, and Putin has the goods.
ruemara
@Botsplainer: “Liked chicken”?
schrodingers_cat
@Davis X. Machina:
Agreed one hundred percent.
NeenerNeener
@Roger Moore: Or Donald under a soldier named Boris.
debbie
@Botsplainer:
Oh, I don’t know. Negatives have a nasty habit of popping up just when they’re least expected to exist.
wenchacha
Oooh, lame-duck POTUS sending Russian diplomats packing!
JPL
@debbie: McConnell could probably pick up some guy for a few bucks, but could Ryan even pay a prostitute? yuck
Miss Bianca
@Chris: For you, my favorite new reading on that theme: Personal Responsibility and the Infantilization of the American Right .
Botsplainer
@ruemara:
Chicken=young gay teens
Miss Bianca
@ruemara: I’m guessing that that term refers to underage boys. Just guessing, you understand.
ETA: Well, what do you know – I was (sort of) right!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
It looks like WP at this, if not, apologies for the redundancy
I expect the hearings to be interesting, even if I’ll be surprised if any of trump’s nominees are actually rejected. I do wonder how well the Exxon guy is going to handle questioning by middle management, if not below stairs sorts.
schrodingers_cat
@wenchacha: What is PutinPuppet saying?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Botsplainer: There are rumors out there about how ol’ Mitch left the Army.
rikyrah
Nothing from Silverman about the latest actions against Russia?
Baud
@wenchacha:
I guess we know what happened to srv.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I actually get why Putin appeals to people like Trump and Giuliani, it’s not as clear wrt Greenwald, except for knee-jerk assholery
Pudge Carlson on the other, he’s just dumb
Corner Stone
@rikyrah: I am getting kind of tired at how lazy he is, tbh.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
LMAO.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Reddit says Obama is releasing technical details of the hack.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Real life Phil from the Americans?
Baud
@schrodingers_cat: I don’t watch that show.
Roger Moore
@Davis X. Machina:
And it actually is reasonably democratic for those who are allowed in. Unfortunately, admission is often too expensive for the poor to afford.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Deep undercover KGB agent passing off as an American.
wenchacha
It was from boston.com, but I am flubbing the link. Don’t know what the Puppet is spewing yet.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat: What cabinet position does he hold?
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Its set in the Reagan era, so he runs a travel agency in NoVa. They have to update it if it is set in the present. Phil would be running Bernie Sanders campaign or getting a cabinet position in the upcoming administration.
ruemara
@Baud: He did. Here it is. Haven’t had to review it, but then, I’m at work.
Chris
@Miss Bianca:
Aww, thank you!
That is a fantastic blog post. I especially liked this bit:
It’s something I noticed throughout the primary, and of course the first sentence is spot on in describing the sheer number of “NeverTrump” charlatans who spent most of the year explaining how horrible he was and that he wasn’t at all a conservative, pretty much the second he was actually elected, suddenly whirling around to say that he was just fine and the real problem is all the damn liberals.
They were very adamant that Trump wasn’t a real conservative, that he was really a liberal, a socialist, a Democrat – maybe a fascist, but Jonah Goldberg says that’s left wing too. But oddly enough, since the day he was elected, they haven’t reacted to him at all the way they’ve reacted to any other liberal president. Funny that, you’d think they’d be more upset at four more years of liberal fascism. Of course that won’t stop them, whenever he does something so embarrassing that they have to distance themselves from him, from suddenly remembering that “well, you know, I always said he was just like Obama.”
And now to decide whether posting that blog on Facebook is worth the headache of baiting the few conservatives I’m still connected with into starting a flame war. (It’s not that I’m afraid of them judging me; it’s just so fucking tedious).
Это курам на смех
@Roger Moore: Sure, but what motivates every gunhumper to be locked and loaded at all times is the fantasy that he will spring into action to blow away the dusky hordes he imagines will be invading his home any minute now.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@schrodingers_cat: it occurs to me that Kellyanne Conway has never proven she is not a Directorate S plant.
Roger Moore
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Greenwald is deeply connected to the Putin/Assange/Snowden business. I’d guess he believes, probably correctly, that staying on Putin’s good side will help him get further scoops from Russian intelligence.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Consulate in SF is also seeing some of the expulsions along with the DC embassy.
schrodingers_cat
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: There is a type of leftie, which still sees Russia as the mothership of all things socialist.
Miss Bianca
@Chris: You’re welcome! Yeah, I loved that post. I actually found it thru’ the Jon Swift awards that Doug J posted about a few days back – here’s the rest of the list, I think you may recognize a few names there…
The part that got me – because it poked me right in my prejudicial blind spot, ouch! – was this:
(my emphasis, naturlich)
Gonna keep repeating that last part, to myself and everyone else, the next time we start re-litigating the primaries, or the general election, around here…
SenyorDave
@Corner Stone: It’s going to be like gangrene that everyone refuses to acknowledge and will eventually turn septic and eat everything it touches.
You nailed it. Trump is like Midas, except that everyone and everything he touches turns to shit. I remember the picture of him trying to hug a little girl in Flint when he spoke there, and she was visibly recoiling from him. Children are probably better at instinctively knowing when someone is evil.
Trump is like the episode of Seinfeld with the BO in the car. Once his stain is on you, its permanent.
Captain C
@JPL: Enough swing voters might object, though. Not that it would bother Il Donaldo until it was too late.
Captain C
@Corner Stone: While I agree with you, I assume that some gun fetishists wouldn’t bother with this safety measure.
Captain C
@Cacti: Regarding the latter, I suspect he hasn’t bothered to think that one through.
Given what we know of Donald’s proclivities, I agree with the fix you made.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: I thought it was just spear-phishing, hardly at the level of something that has technical details.
@Miss Bianca: I keep having to mention that millions of humans with agency voted for Donald Trump to people while we’re discussing this. At best, many people are acting like Trump voters have no agency (the same way we treat people in third-world countries) and at worst they’re acting like those votes just sort of appeared in the tallies fully-formed from the head of Zeus and it’s our fault for not having higher numbers in the right places.
Captain C
@Roger Moore: As with Corner Stone, agreed regarding gun safety. I know this, and I haven’t fired a gun in decades (summer camp, .22 rifles). Given that ammosexuals seem to not know or care, though, you’d think they’d at least warn the receiver.
Captain C
@Roger Moore: a) A lot of hacked (and other) Trump secrets come out. b) He does something extra stupid, then refer to a)
Chris
@Miss Bianca:
I mean… I don’t think you can avoid blaming the people who didn’t vote, though that doesn’t need to be directed at any political faction in particular. When an out-of-the-closet white nationalist who’s so blatantly fascist he won’t even repudiate the Ku Klux Klan runs against an ordinary establishment figure and the amount of voters care enough to participate actually goes down, it’s really hard not to say “what the fuck is wrong with you people?”
Elizabelle
@Miss Bianca: Hey. How is it we don’t get blurbs like this?
Captain C
@Roger Moore: Plus, getting on Putin’s bad side means that maybe some of GG’s own secrets get aired.
bmoak
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: How quaint of you to expect there will be confirmation hearings. Sure the Senate can “advise and consent” on appointments, but having confirmation hearings is just a respected Senate norm and tradition, and we know how Trump and McConnell respect norms and traditions. It’ll be straight up-or-down votes with no discussion whatsoever. If it’s not illegal, it is allowable and will become the new norm.
Major Major Major Major
@Chris: my list is, in decreasing order of blamitude:
People who voted for Trump
People who voted for anybody else not named Hillary Clinton
People who didn’t vote
The media
…..
…..
Bernie Sanders
Hillary Clinton
Roger Moore
@Chris:
It didn’t. The initial numbers suggesting participation was down this year were based on reported voting totals from election day 2016 compared to final totals from 2012. The final totals from 2016 showed that turnout was actually up somewhat compared to 2012.
Chris
@Roger Moore: @Roger Moore:
I stand corrected.
(Yes, I actually AM standing…)
Miss Bianca
@Chris: Agreed. I’m mostly citing that paragraph in the interest of reminding myself that taking part in the “circular firing squad” that certain persons have complained of here on BJ, or on FB (or as I prefer to think of it, the “circle-jerk of blame”), is just nauseously counterproductive at this point.
@Elizabelle: What, “vicious pack of snarling vitriolic jackals” isn’t a ringing enough encomium for you? My God, woman, it just *sings*!
But if we have to drag Wittgenstein into it, how about something like this – “Stand back! I’ve got Wittgenstein here, and I know how to use it!”
Corner Stone
@Captain C:
Hence, the dead one.
EBT
West Virginia Man meets Florida Man: http://www.tmz.com/2016/12/29/miami-west-virginia-bathroom-fight-bowl-game-video/
PaulWartenberg2016
@schrodingers_cat:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10154110877931056&id=73708406055
schrodingers_cat
@PaulWartenberg2016: Oh so pretty!
J R in WV
@The Pale Scot:
Years ago, when I was a youth, probably early 20s, maybe even teens, an older outdoorsman friend, Carl, took me to visit a friend of his. Friend had a new 12-guage shotgun (the largest common shotgun) which he pulled out to show everyone. Carl admired it, and snapped it to his shoulder, which is how you aim a shotgun, from your shoulder across the end of the barrel to the target, usually a bird.
When they passed the shiny new shotgun over to me, first thing I did was ease the chamber open to see what was inside – sure enough, it was loaded, chambered, cocked and ready to fire. I laid the gun down and said “This gun is loaded, someone should unload it before we handle it anymore” It not being my gun, I did NOT intend to attempt to unload it, or handle it at all.
I was the youngest, least experienced person in the room (perhaps excepting friend’s wife) and they were all shocked and horrified to have been aiming a loaded gun in the living room. Especially since a newer baby was upstairs asleep.
It was a great learning experience for me. I ALWAYS check the chamber of every gun I come across. I tell the story of the living room shotgun show whenever I get a chance, hoping that others will learn something from the experience, without any harm to bystanders.
Back on topic… Bernie Sanders isn’t a Democrat, so far as I can tell. He hasn’t been, ever. I have been a Democrat ever since I passed voting age (21 at the time) and got back home from service in the Navy. This would have been about 1973, so I didn’t get a chance to vote against Nixon… such a shame! But that was long ago and far away.
Mr. Sanders could have voted against Nixon – was he a registered voter, somewhere? Did he cast a vote that year? I dunno, but I doubt it. Hippies often didn’t. Still don’t, many of them, I don’t know why. But Sanders wants to be part of the political world of this country.
Fuck that shit!
Fuck Sanders, and his squadron of anti-Democratic harpies!
ETA: put the NOT where it belonged, not being my gun…
Fuck LBJ, and FUCK 2016!
Johannes
@Elie: I understand, and wish you well.